ACN: Coming to terms with challenges in S/West .
Thursday, 02 June 2011

.FOR millions of citizens of the South West region, particularly in Oyo and Ogun States, the inauguration of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governors was a beginning of a new era for the zone.

With fanfare and songs of praises, people trooped out en-mass to witness the installation of what was regarded as the reclaiming of the zones from the retrogressive Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) policy and ideology in the last eight years.

The atmosphere was particularly that of excitement and jubilation in Oyo where the people expressed relief over the exit of Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and the PDP and the installation of Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

It was same in Ogun where hundreds of members of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), market women association, professional bodies, students and others trooped to the Moshood Abiola Stadium to welcome the ACN and Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

However Lagos was calm as the people simply expressed confidence that Governor Babatunde Fashola who was sworn in for second term would continue from where he stopped.

And the sweat dries up after the celebrations that trailed the inauguration of the three governors in the South West geopolitical zone, the reality of the rout of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the zone is unfolding. In Ogun and Oyo states, there are more challenges before governors, Amosun and Abiola Ajimobi where the PDP has been ousted after eight years. The case is different in Lagos, where Governor Babatunde Fashola is expected to continue “with business as usual.”

Aware of the challenges, former governor of Lagos, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu said: “ACN is already looking beyond the party’s victories in the election and the inauguration. It is serious looking into the challenges and ways of meeting the yearnings of the people within the next four years.

“The victory is not a tea party, it is not about dancing and jubilating over reclaiming the zone from PDP but to clear the mess that has been done in the last eight years and immediately build on it to the satisfaction of the people who voted for us.”

The National Publicity Secretary of ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said however that ACN is not taking anything for granted. “We worked to get the victories, to regain the confidence of the people even beyond the South West region and dethrone PDP but the onus is on the representatives of the party to justify what they have by delivering dividends of democracy. Already the party is looking into the immediate areas to address, both at the local, state and federal levels that will bring progress, relief and development to our people.”

“We must prove to the people beyond all reasonable doubts in the next four years that we are a party with a difference. We are not underrating the extent of damage that has been done to the democratic psych of the people in the last eight years, particularly in Oyo and Ogun.”

Former Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate, Olurunnimbe Mamora also said that the ACN governors in the zone have a lot to prove in the next four years, “to convince the people that the party has a different developmental political ideology to that of the PDP.”

Mamora explained that the eight years of PDP rule in Ogun and Oyo has affected the psychic of the people in every sector. “It is going to be a great task but the belief is that ACN is never a failure and in 2015 people in these states would be singing a new song under the party’s administrations,” he said.

The National Legal Adviser of ACN, Dr. Muiz Banire said the enormity of challenges that the likes of Ajimobi and Amosun will face after eight years of PDP rule was not going to be easy.

A few days after taking over power, Ajimobi faced a test of sorts when factions of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) were engaged in violent clash that led to the death of some people and destruction of property. Many have described the NURTW clash as one of the burdens he inherited from the former governor, Christopher Alao-Akala. Ajimobi has vowed not to allow the reign of lawlessness, in the state. The crisis and bloody conflicts in the NURTW has become a recurring decimal in the state.

In Ogun, Amosun is also expected to address the issue of “decayed infrastructure” a left over from the former governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

Ogun in the last four years has been riddled with controversies. The protracted crisis in the House of Assembly climaxed when a group of nine lawmakers, led by Soyemi Coker, suspended the Group of 15 led by Speaker Tunji Egbetokun.

Daniel ran the government with a crippled legislative arm. Incidentally, the House of will be under the control of the ACN.

Amosun will have to see to the resolution of the crisis in the House when the House is inaugurated next week. That might yet be his first challenge.

The debt profile of the state is another issue, which will rage for a long while as conflicting figures are thrown about. During the campaign, the PDP governorship candidate Gen Tunji Chief Olurin, pointed out that it “may be impossible for the incoming administration to run qualitative free education,” with the debt profile.

Amosun, has said that his mission was to rebuild the state, and he has promised to make an impact in the next 100 days. “We are ready to repay the good people of Ogun with good governance and we will not disappoint. When we come back after 100 days, I am sure everybody will be happy,” he said.

Oyo presents a peculiar issue, being the only state that has been ruled by four different governors and three different parties in the last 12 years. In 1999, Dr. Lam Adesina of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) was elected governor. He was defeated in 2003 by Rasheed Ladoja of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In January 2006, 18 lawmakers in the State House of Assembly impeached him and Alao-Akala was sworn in as governor on January 12, 2006. The impeachment was however overturned in December 2006 but Alao-Akala defeated Ladoja in the 2007 elections. in 2011, Ajimobi defeated Alao-Akala, ending the eight-year rule of the PDP in the state. It was presumed that one of the reasons Ladoja lost was his relationship with the late Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu who was considered a factor in Oyo politics. And the beginning of Akala’s predicament could not be detached from his differences with some other prominent indigenes of Ibadan like of Hazeem Gbolarunmi, Senator Lekan Balogun and Elder Wole Oyelese. They had remain in the PDP but refused to work for the second term bid of Alao-Akala.

Though the former governor thought he was strategically connected with the people, his crisis with some of the traditional rulers in the state, the conflict with teachers and the NURTW dented his armour. The
intraparty squabbles in the state chapter of the PDP especially the controversies that surrounded the party’s primaries also contributed to the fall of Akala.

Amosun will also need to quickly start rebuilding the confidence of the people in democracy. He must ensure that the executive and the legislators can work in collaboration towards the development of the state unlike the sharp differences between the executive and the House of Assembly that characterised Daniel’s administration.

He will also face the immediate task of rebuilding the state, which must be taken with all sense of urgency, purpose and responsibility.

Like many people put it during the inauguration, Amosun should know what he is in for. “He did not get the governorship on a platter of gold. He tried to get it under the PDP but failed, moved to All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and failed until he moved to ACN where he succeeded. For him, it should not be a tea party,” they said.

Other expectations from the governors are the yearning for a return to their pivotal place in human resource development. Education, from primary to the tertiary levels should be given priority as no nation or state could be greater than the level or quality of its human resource, genuine youth empowerment projects, provision of infrastructure and others. The standard they are looking forward on education matter is the one left by the late leader of the Yoruba, Chief Obafemi Awolow and its pivot is scholarship to the people.

In Lagos, Fashola is expected to continue what is generally regarding as his pace setting performance in the zone. Rev. Tunji Abebiyi, Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Political and Assembly Matters and a former chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), said that where the challenge is for other ACN governors in the South West is that their performances would be measured on the yardstick of Fashola’s achievements in the last four years.

He noted that the ACN governors must cooperate, compare notes and work towards the realisation of the regional economic integration.

According to Adebiyi, “Ajimobi and Amosun must immediately embark on a mission of problem identification. They should take a tour of all local councils for on the spot assessment among others

Gbenga Daniel is a bástard!!!!